


The One That Got Away

by Solacein10



Series: Short Story Prompts [1]
Category: Original Work
Genre: M/M, Slice of Life, University
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-19
Updated: 2018-02-19
Packaged: 2019-03-21 02:53:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,567
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13731597
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Solacein10/pseuds/Solacein10
Summary: For the following prompt: "You bump into an ex-lover on Valentine's Day-the one whom you often call 'The One That Got Away.' What happens? "





	The One That Got Away

Moments after exiting the Subway, Ro started to squint. The rain, while not horrible, was spattering on his face and his glasses. He considered how long it would take to get home, then decided that taking his umbrella out was worth the hassle of putting it back into its holder. He was rooting through his bag, still walking, when he bumped into someone.

"Sorry," he muttered and kept walking.

"Rohan?"

Ro froze, then swiveled around. Jeremy was standing behind him, half-turned like he'd meant to continue walking. "Hi," Ro managed, hurriedly closing his bag and pulling it over his shoulders, forgetting about the umbrella. 

Jeremy turned around fully to face Ro, putting his hands in his pockets and slightly hunching. His coat didn't have a hood, and he wasn't carrying an umbrella, but thankfully it was a warm day for mid-February. He looked so good, as usual, even with his hair slightly stringing under the drizzle. "Hey." He sounded surprised, and then it morphed to cautious pleasure. "How's it going?"

"Good. You?" Rohan had never got the hand of making small talk, even with Jeremy. Especially with Jeremy. 

"Yeah, good. I was just walking home from dinner. With someone." He gestured vaguely to somewhere behind Ro. "I didn't know you lived here."

Ro blinked against sudden jealousy. They had broken up seven months ago, enough time that Jeremy should be in a happy, functional relationship with someone else, and on a date on Valentine's Day. "Yeah," Ro replied, finally. "Got a studio here, maybe a month ago."

"Pretty close to campus, huh?" Jeremy asked, shuffling closer to him so that people could move around them to the Subway.

"Yeah. Makes it easier to stay late in the labs." Jeremy gave a small smile at that. Before, Jeremy would sometimes come to the labs to keep him company, watching YouTube videos or doing homework to pass the time. 

Ro glanced around, trying to come up with something to ask, something interesting, and ended up with, "Uh, nice running into you. I'll, uh, catch you later?" He gave a smile that felt more like a grimace and turned to leave. He definitely wasn't mentally prepared to have a conversation with the boy he often called The One That Got Away in his head.

He'd barely taken a step when he felt a hand on his shoulder. "Wait, Ro," Jeremy said. 

Ro bit his lips and turned back around. Jeremy stared back at him, looking determined. "Can we get coffee or something?" he asked. "I just, it feels like I haven't seen you in forever and, can we catch up, or something?"

"Uh," Ro started, but Jeremy bulldozed over him. Like he'd done so often in the past.

"Just to talk, I swear. You know," he shrugged, "I miss you."

You're the one who broke up with me, Ro thought. "Sure," he said. "There's a Starbucks nearby that's open late." Ro didn't know why he was giving in. There was hope flaring in his chest, and Ro clamped down on it. Jeremy had always been a social guy, who preferred talking through issues instead of bottling them up. The exact opposite of himself. Maybe he just had something to say.

"Perfect, great." Jeremy smiled back, and then waited until Ro realized that he had to lead them and started walking. Jeremy fell into step beside him. "Did you do anything fun for Valentine's Day?" he asked, after a few moments of quiet.

Ro clutched his bag and glanced at him through the corner of his eyes. "No," he admitted. "I forgot what day it was. And then I saw all the flowers."

Jeremy chuckled, a light sound that sounded just a touch strained. "Yeah. You've always been in your own world, huh."

"I guess." Ro didn't know what else to say. He remembered Jeremy's quiet disappointment and sometimes frustration when Ro forgot important days or didn't see the point of romantic gestures. They'd have arguments, never fights, over it. Ro had always claimed that he felt inauthentic when they did stuff other people did just because, and Jeremy argued that making an effort to do something different was not fake.

Maybe he'd finally given up, and that's why he'd broken up with Ro. Ro shook his head slightly. There was no point going over all the reasons they'd broken up, again. He didn't want to torture himself and ask Jeremy about his reasons, and he had to live with what he knew.

They reached the Starbucks in silence. Jeremy opened the door and held it open with a smile. Ro muttered "thanks" and walked in. They ordered their drinks in silence. Ro saw Jeremy open his mouth when it came time to pay, and hurriedly handed his card over. There needed to be a line drawn, even though it did feel weird to be in a coffee shop with Jeremy and pay for his own drink. 

Jeremy closed his mouth and turned to place his own order with a tight smile to the cashier. They waited in silence that was tinged with awkwardness for their drinks, and finally settled down across from each other in an extremely small table.

Jeremy opened up his drink and started blowing on it absentmindedly. Ro furtively glanced at him for a moment. "What did you want to talk about?" he said in the end.

Jeremy glanced up at him. "Just, normal things, I guess. How are your classes? Has Aki heard back from schools yet? How are your parents?" He took a sip of his drink, almost as if to keep him from asking any more questions. 

Ro smiled, he often forgot how invested in them Jeremy had been. How invested he was in all his relationships. "Everything is good, really. I've got a few tough classes this semester, but I'm working through them. Uh, Aki got into NYU," he replied.

Jeremy's eyes lit up. "Oh, that's amazing! She wanted Tisch, right?"

Ro nodded, "Yeah. We're all incredibly proud of her. I think she's going to pick here, too."

"Oh, wow. That's wonderful."

"My parents are doing pretty well, too. My mom's in India right now, to help out with my grandparents for a bit."

"Are they okay?"

Ro shrugged, "For the most part, I think. It's just old age, honestly."

Jeremy nodded. "Yeah."

"How are you?" Ro asked. "How's Michael setting down at Ohio State?"

Jeremy rolled his eyes, "It's all about the Buckeyes now. He's doing well, I think. He really hates his Calculus class."

Ro chuckled, "You did too."

"Yeah, but you should hear him whine about it. It goes on forever," Jeremy insisted.

Ro took a sip of his drink, the memories of Jeremy whining on and on about his Math class making him smile. 

"And, yeah, I'm doing okay. I don't know, I might switch majors."

Ro frowned, "Why? You love your classes." And Jeremy absolutely did. He went on rants about whatever book they were reading, and would write for hours sometimes.

Jeremy shrugged, "I guess. I was thinking Interactive Media Studies or something like that. A little more job security than English, you know." He flashed a quick smile at Ro, "I don't have an Engineering major to rely on for dough anymore."

Ro ignored the comment. "Are you sure? Have you talked to your advisor about it? Or that professor who was going to mentor you."

Jeremy glanced away, "No, not yet."

"Well, you should," Ro stated.

Jeremy smiled crookedly. He looked like he wanted to say something, but stopped himself and took another sip of his drink.

"What?" Ro asked. Jeremy not speaking his mind was unusual. 

"Just," Jeremy started, "You're always so outspoken when it comes to, I don't know, helping others or giving advice."

"I'm hearing a 'but,'" Ro commented. Of course, he was. He liked helping others, liked providing people the resources they needed to make a decision. It made him feel useful.

"But you never want to talk about yourself." Jeremy told the table, clutching his drink with both hands.

"I just told you about my life," Ro knee-jerked.

"No, you told me that your classes were going okay. Like they're ever not." Jeremy looked around, gathering his thoughts, "Nothing about if you're speaking with your dad again, or if you're thinking about that MBA. Nothing that's hard to talk about."

Ro bit his lips. Jeremy looked serious, but really, who was he to say all that? Ro thought about how bad he was at talking to people enough without the other boy's opinion. "Yeah, okay, I'm speaking to him again. No, he's not stopped introducing me to his friends' daughters. And my mom did a Temple circuit last week. Of course, neither of them even talks about why or acknowledges the gay thing." Ro paused, "Is that what you want to hear? That my relationships suck?"

"Rohan-"

"Because you think being dumped wasn't enough of a clue?" Ro spoke on. He felt a lot angrier and frustrated that he'd thought he was. And maybe he was angry at Jeremy for leaving, too. Not just himself for messing it up, whatever he did.

Jeremy flinched. Ro had always gone vicious when he was backed into a corner.

Ro continued, "So, yeah, maybe I don't talk about myself because I can't trust that the other person will stay to listen."

Jeremy shook his head. "No, you never trusted that I would stay. Long before we broke up."

Ro sighed. He was done with this. He just wanted to go home, dissect this conversation, and not think about Jeremy on his date. "Okay, you're right. I don't give enough. I'm sorry."

"And this is exactly why I broke up with you," Jeremy continued, sounding exasperated. "You're avoiding talking, even now."

"What do you want me to say?" Ro exclaimed.

"I want you to share," Jeremy replied, like that made any sense.

"Well, I don't need to share every single bit of my life. I'm my own person."

"Yes, well, you're always your own person, aren't you?"

Ro frowned. "What does that even mean, Jeremy?"

Jeremy shrugged, "Just that. You're always your own person. We were never an us. It was always you, and me, and our own lives that sometimes interconnected."

"That is not true," Ro insisted.

"Really? Name one decision you made after talking to me?" Jeremy stared at him.

Ro stared at him.

"Can't think of any, can you?" Jeremy guessed. 

"What does that matter," Ro muttered.

Jeremy shrugged, "It mattered because you were always in your own head, and I wanted to be in there sometimes, too. I wanted to know what you were thinking all the time, and I never got to. Being with you was always so lonely."

Ro winced. Well, he had wanted to know why Jeremy had broken up with him. It wasn't anything different than what he'd always thought, that he couldn't be what Jeremy needed.

"Well, good that you have someone else now, right? That you won't be lonely with," Ro said, finally. He turned around to grab his jacket, wanting to be in his bed right then.

"Wait, Ro, this is getting out of hand."

"Yeah," Ro muttered and stood up.

"And I'm not with anyone, I have no idea who told you that-"

"You were on a date on Valentine's Day."

"With a friend. Fucking group report."

Ro paused, "Okay. Good luck on that." The ball in his chest didn't loosen one bit, even after hearing that Jeremy was still single. He swung his bag on his shoulder and chanced a glance at Jeremy. 

The boy was staring at him, frustration and dejection written on his face. "I'm sorry," he said. "I didn't mean to make this a big deal, shouldn't have started on it."

"No," Ro sighed, "I needed to hear that."

"I really did just want to talk. I feel like I've not seen you since-I wanted to know how you were doing."

"Well, I'm doing okay. And no, I'm not being facetious, I really am fine. Thanks for worrying about me." Ro could give him that. 

"I miss you," Jeremy said, whispered. 

Ro stared at him, and then stepped forward and knelt down beside Jeremy's chair. Jeremy straightened up and swallowed. "I really miss you, too. And, and whatever you thought, or that I made you feel, I want you to know that I really loved you. Still do, actually. And I'm sorry I wasn't enough."

Jeremy's lips trembled. "You were," he said.

Ro let out a breath, "Thanks." He got up and started walking towards the door, ignoring the glances from the other customers. 

He was barely out of the café and on his way home when Jeremy caught up to him. There was a hand on his shoulder, and he was spun around until Jeremy was able to place both of his hands on Ro's face and lean down to kiss him. Ro rocked backwards, off-balance and dizzy with the sudden loss of air. The kiss was really just a hard press of lips against his own, and over in moments. Ro blinked and tried to steady himself. 

Jeremy looked at him, his hands still on Ro's face. "I-" he started, "I thought I wasn't making you happy, that I was the problem." He sounded close to tears.

Ro was bewildered. He took Jeremy's hands in each of his and brought them down. He held onto them. "Because I didn't share?"

Jeremy laughed wetly, "Because I'm stupid, and angsty, and I thought you were just going along with whatever I wanted." When Ro didn't say anything, Jeremy continued on, "I know that's stupid, right? I should have trusted that you would say something if you were unhappy, or something. I just felt so unneeded and I wanted to stop feeling-"

"Hey," Ro interrupted. "Listen for a sec?"

"Okay," Jeremy mumbled, leaning to place his forehead on Ro's.

"I've always thought that you have the best ideas, that you put your life and soul into everything you do, and it amazed me so much. I was so boring in comparison. So, yeah, I went with whatever you did, because I knew it meant something to you and that meant a lot to me, and I wasn't going to suggest something completely random that didn't mean as much to me." Ro took a deep breath, "And I'm sorry, so sorry, that I never fought you over the break-up. That I never asked you why, or gave you reasons to stay. I wanted to think that you had found something, someone, better, and I wanted to respect you for your decision. And I was just hiding from the fact that you meant so much to me, and I didn't know what I was going to do without you."

"I love you so much," Jeremy whispered.

"Yeah," Ro smiled. "Love you too."

They stood there for a long time, getting slowly drenched. "Want to come back to my place?" Ro asked, finally. "We can dry off, and I think I have a bit of chocolate cake I can give you for Valentine's Day."

Jeremy laughed, "Yeah, okay. That sounds nice."

"And maybe after, I'll give you my reasons why we should get back together?" Ro broached.

"Sounds good," Jeremy smiled, sounding hopeful. 

Ro smiled, and kissed him again. "Okay, let's go."

**Author's Note:**

> Just something short and sweet! Let me know if you guys have any other prompts :)


End file.
